Unleashes

Clinton megadonor unleashes megarant on Trump

By Nolan D. McCaskill

Saban Entertainment founder Haim Saban is confident Hillary Clinton will win the White House in November, dismissing her general election opponent with an assortment of insults, including disaster, bully, buffoon, clown, fraud, pathological liar and “cynical, self-serving, self-centered egomaniac.”

“Donald Trump is a disaster,” the longtime Clinton donor said during a phone interview with Danielle Berrin of the Jewish Journal published Wednesday. “He is a bully who doesn’t have the curiosity to understand the issues; he contradicts himself repeatedly; his views of the world are an unmitigated disaster for America and for the American people, and I believe that all of this will become clearer with time.”

Saban, an American-Israeli billionaire, said his confidence comes from his faith in Americans, who “are going to do the right thing for America and for the world.”

Noting that Clinton has gotten more votes than Trump and her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, Saban added, “That is very indicative of where the American people are.”

The “Power Rangers” producer was effusive in his praise of Clinton but didn’t pull his punches when it came to the Manhattan billionaire businessman — if you can call him that.

“He’s not a successful businessman; he is not a billionaire; this is a guy, who, I promise you, doesn’t pay taxes … and he is an oppressor of the weak,” Saban said.

“He claims that he ‘never settles’ — well, all I can tell you as chairman of Univision is that he sued us and he settled,” Saban continued.

He also blasted Trump for suggesting that as president he would be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before shifting course.

“One day he says he’s going to be neutral on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and the next day — I guess after he gets some Republicans to give him a lot of money — he says, ‘Yes, Israel should build in the settlements,’” Saban said. “The danger here is that he doesn’t understand the conflict between those two statements; he just doesn’t get it.”

Saban accused the real estate mogul of improvising “on every single issue,” suggesting he’s ignorant of subjects he speaks on and doesn’t understand the importance of his rhetoric.

“There is not one issue that he has studied enough to be able to speak about it in a way that makes sense. And then he goes back on everything he says: One day, he says he’s gonna block the Muslims, and the next day he says, ‘Well it was just a suggestion,’” Saban said. “What a candidate says … these words carry weight. We cannot just dismiss the fact that he keeps contradicting himself. We don’t know what he stands for.”

Despite voters’ perception of Clinton, who has had to overcome multiple investigations and lawsuits over her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, as well as an hours-long hearing from the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Saban said he trusts his longtime friend.

“Because I know her personally, and I know what her beliefs are. I know that she wants what’s good for the American people, and she wants what’s good for [the] U.S.-Israel relationship,” he said. “For me, that’s enough. And then you add to that, that no one has run for office over the last 30 years with her kind of experience, [and with the] relationships and respect that she has with leaders around the world.”

A Trump presidency, Saban argued, could lead to “irreparable damage” between the U.S. and its allies, such as Israel.

“Between friends, there is room for disagreement. But you do not disagree with Donald Trump,” he said.

As for the difference between Clinton and Trump: “One has marched as the grand marshal in support of Israel in the streets of New York, and one has, for 25 years, had a policy for protecting Israel from all the threats around it. One has negotiated a truce with Egypt’s help and a cease-fire with Hamas, and one has marched down the streets of New York … You decide who would be more appropriate to safeguard that relationship.”